Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Planetary forces are hard to tweak. If we had more control of the weather, we wouldn't have gotten nearly a foot of wet, heavy snow the day before spring begins. Well, snow be damned! It's not stopping us from releasing Bloom, our spring-themed Short Batch, on Friday, March 22 during brewery tours. Shipments to our wholesalers start on March 25.

This Belgian golden ale was brewed in collaboration with Chef Evan Mallet and his staff from the Black Trumpet Bistro and features flavor and aroma contributions from eight edible flowers not commonly found in beer: yarrow, lavender, chamomile, rose buds, elder flowers, calendula,
nasturtium and dianthus, that were grown specifically for this beer by Chef
Mallet's staff at Meadow's Mirth Farm.

Flavor-wise, our wood-aging funktifier and frequent-pilot-batch-brewer, Charlie Ireland offered these tasting notes: "flavors of spice and bubble gum from the Belgian yeast, an extremely floral aroma (big shock, I know), while the flowers add their own difficult-to-describe flavor contributions." You really should just stop by and try it for yourself.

There isn't a lot of Bloom to go around, only 25.5 barrels, and most of that will be put into 86 1/6 barrel kegs. The remainder of the batch is in a bottled-conditioned, 750ml, cork-finished package. Bloom bottles will be available at Smuttynose for $15 and we've got a list of most of the other bottle accounts to help you out, should wish to forage your own bottle.

Smuttynose Logo

Upcoming Beer Releases

These dates show when we expect to release these beers at our Smerch Store. Shipments to our distribution partners will coincide with their order cycles, so you'll see new releases a little bit after the dates you see below.

Pumpkin Ale - August

Smuttlabs: Brett & I - Shipping Now!

Big Beer Series: Tripel (brand new release!) August 16

Smuttlabs: Schmutzig - August 23

Now and Then Series: Cluster's Last Stand - (Stone Collaboration) August 30

Winter Ale - October 15

Smuttlabs: Oak-Aged Tripel - TBD

Smuttlabs: Strawberry Short Weisse - Fall 2014

Smuttlabs: White IPA - TBD

Big Beer Series: S'muttonator (double bock) - November

Full Time: Baltic Porter - 12oz Four Pack, Fall 2014

Full Time: Really Old Brown Dog - 12oz Four Pack, Fall 2014

Durty (we promise to brew more) - December 13

The Smuttynose Big Beer Series

Since 1998, Smuttynose Brewing has offered its Big Beer Series, specialty beers released seasonally in very limited quantities. Although some styles appear every year, others get dropped or added to the lineup, or simply take a sabbatical for a year or two. Adding to the free-form nature of this series, our brewers are encouraged to tweak, change and experiment with recipes from one year to the next, so that one year's edition may be subtly or dramatically different from the next (or it may be exactly the same).

Since 2002, our Executive Brewer, David Yarrington, has contributed notes on each new edition of the Series, as well as on other seasonal beers, such as our Pumpkin Ale. Sometimes the notes are extensive; sometimes, if little or no changes have been made to the previous year's edition, they will be brief.

By the way, all Smuttynose Big Beers are bottle conditioned and will age quite nicely if stored properly. Starting in 2005, we've "vintage" dated our Big Beer labels to help you keep your cellar organized.

Smuttlabs

“How many things are we upon the brink of discovering if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries?” -Mary Shelley

We’re very proud of each of our Smuttynose beers, but our brewing staff has many ideas that can’t be done on a large scale; this is where Smuttlabs comes into play. From barrel-aging and beer souring to culinary collaborations and special projects that just don’t fit anywhere else, if a project is out of the ordinary, unique or time consuming, you can bet it’ll bear the Smuttlabs name.

In 2007, we began these experimental brewings, with a beer called “The Gnome” (which became Homunculus in the Big Beer Series), under the Short Batch Series name. As we’ve increased production and volumes of these eccentric beers, we’ve rechristened them “Smuttlabs,” to reflect the creative experimentation found in each batch.

Smuttlabs releases seek to bridge the gap between “rare” and “hard to find.” Brewing on these terms, success can take different forms. Some releases may have semi-regular production and others may never see a mash tun again. There will constantly be Smuttlabs beers in all phases of production from conception, to brewing and fermentation to aging and packaging.

We’ll announce Smuttlabs beers here on our blog, through social media as well as our website. We know you’ll have just as much fun seeking them out and drinking them as we do brewing them.